2020 is a year that none of us will forget, and while the Covid -19 pandemic continues to play havoc with our lives now at the start of 2021, the MS and Me blog team continues to evolve and grow.
I am so proud to be able to write this piece for the start of the year, because way back in 2013 when I was accepted as one of the contributors to MS and Me, we had no idea how wonderful it would become. To think back to that first meeting of about 10 people willing to “give it a go” and realise that there are now more than double that number on the panel, always gives me goosebumps!
Goodbye & Thank You to Niall
Our dear friend Niall McGahon has decided to step down from the group this year. Niall joined MS and Me back in 2018. He is going to be missed at our meet ups (oh, how I look forward to physically meeting the rest of the MS and Me gang!) as he is a genuine, clever and kind person to be in the company of. His blog posts have given us a great insight into his life with MS. Thank you Niall for being so generous with your time and words.
Hello & Welcome to our new Bloggers
In the midst of all the upheaval of 2020, we put out a call for new bloggers to join MS and Me. We are delighted to welcome 7 new members to the writing panel this year. The addition of new voices is always wonderful. When we are able to share more stories, experiences and perspectives, we reach a wider audience of readers who can relate to them.
We will publish an introduction to our new bloggers soon, but in the meantime, we want to thank Christine, Dearbhla, Emma, Lauren, Maggie, Nadia and Sarah for coming on board. We look forward to reading your blogs over the coming months.
The Year Ahead
At the time of writing, we are still in Level 5 restrictions here in Ireland. Many events for 2021 are being cancelled, in anticipation of restrictions being in place longer than we originally hoped. There are a lot of uncertainties, that’s the only thing I am sure of!
Here at MS and Me, we are putting our plans in place for the year and look forward to sharing our words with you every week. We hope you continue to read, like, comment and share; from my personal perspective, it means a lot when someone shares something I have written or adds a comment to the Facebook post. Thank you for taking the time to do that!
In this hard time, we hope we can connect with even more people with MS, their families and the wider community here at home in Ireland and further afield.
I’ll sign off with a quote from Seamus Heaney that has become my mantra over the last 6 months or so;
“If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere”.
Here is hoping that our summer isn’t too far away.
Take care and stay safe,
Niamh and all at MS & Me
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